Collapsible container



. Aug. 15, 1961 H. E. HINES 2,996,237

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Filed May 15, 1959 INVENTOR.

HAQEY E- H/A/ES tates This invention relates to an improved container of the type designed for bulk packaging whose components may be fabricated, shipped and stored in collapsed or knock-down condition, to be assembled at the packaging site, and to improved fastening means for assembling the components.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a paper container of the kind indicated, which is cheaper and easier to manufacture, can be assembled more easily and with substantial savings of time, with simpler and less expensive machinery, and which can be made entirely of thinner and/or less expensive paper, except for the fastening means, without sacrifice of strength and serviceability, despite doing without a metal bottom for the drum.

Another object of the invention is to provide a container of the character indicated above which provides greater imperviousness to sifting and leaking because of the tight joints produced by the application of improved fastening means to flexible flanges for joining the top element and the sidewall of the cover and for joining the bottom element and the sidewall of the drum.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in a container of the character indicated above, a drum having a sidewall the ends of whose constituting element are joined by fastening means of the invention in a manner to provide a zipper closure, which can be ripped or peeled off to expose and provide easy access to the contents of the drum, which is a facility especially valuable in the case of bulk products initially packed in the drum in fluid form and which attain solid form in storage or in transit.

A still further object of the invention is to provide, in a container of the character indicated above, an improved arrangement of flexible cover sidewall flange and flexible drum sidewall flange, and cover top element and drum bottom element, respectively, in cooperation with metal fastening means, which facilitates gluing and/ or caulking of the joints produced, in that glue and/or caulking material applied thereto is held therebetween under pressure in situ, for setting, and waiting for the setting before handling or using the containers is eliminated.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a container illustrating the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing the cover removed from the drum of the container;

FIGURE 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the cover components separated, and before assembly thereof;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a straight fastener strip of the invention;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary plan View showing a circular fastener strip of the invention in place;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical transverse section taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 2; and,

FIGURE 7 is a further enlarged fragmentary vertical atent 2,996,237 Patented Aug. 15, 1961 ice transverse section taken on the line 77 of FIGURE 5.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, the illustrated container 10 comprises a cover 12, and a drum 14. The cover and the drum, while being of different heights, the cover 12 being shorter, so as to telescope part way over the drum 14, are of similar construction. Each is characterized by a paper sidewall 16 and a paper closure element 18, which constitutes the top element for the cover 12, and the bottom element for the drum 14.

On the closure end of the sidewall 16 is an integral, inwardly bendable projecting flange 20 which extends continuously around the sidewall 16, and is characterized by flexibility or pliability, enhanced by radial crimping 22. The sidewall 16 is a sheet brought to tubular shape, with its end edge portions 24, 26 overlapped to form a joint and two layers of paper.

The overlapped end portions 24, 26 of the sidewall are secured together under compression by a straight fastener strip 28, which comprises a flat elongated thin metal body 30 of the height of the sidewall 16 and applied externally thereto. On and at spaced intervals along the side edges of the body 30 are integral rounded, and preferably semi-circular, tabs or cars 3-2, which are opposed to each other crosswise of the body 30, and which are centrally punched out so as to provide circular openings 34 on whose edges are equally circumferentially spaced lateral prongs 36. The prongs 36 are triangular and pointed and are of suflicient length to be pressed through the overlapped sidewall edge portions and clinched against the inner side of the inner edge portion. The body 30 can also have a line of holes 38 along the centerline thereof, in the interest of weight reduction and machine element positioning, which are disposed between adjacent opposed pairs of tabs 32. Glue and/or caulking material applied to the facing sides of the overlapped edge portions of the sidewall 16, are obviously held in place under compression for setting, so that completion of assembly of the sidewall 16 need not await setting thereof.

As shown in FIGURES 5 to 7, the closure element 18, for both the cover 12 and the drum 14, is a circular paper disc, preferably slightly smaller in diameter than the related sidewall 16, and having a peripheral edge 40. The element 18 is applied to the inward side of the flexible flange 20, as seen in FIGURES 6 and 7, in concentric relation to the sidewall 16, with or without glue and/or caulking material applied to the facing surfaces, and a circular strip fastener 42 is applied externally.

The circular fastener strip 42 is composed of a flat circular body 44 of thin metal, smaller in diameter than the closure disc 18 and having outer and inner peripheral edges 46 and 48, respectively. On and spaced along the edges 46 and 48 are outer and inner, opposed, semicircular tabs 50 and 52, respectively, which are centrally punched out to provide lateral, ci'rcumferentially spaced, pointed triangular prongs 54 and 56, respectively, of the form and arrangement of those of the straight fastener strip 28. As indicated in FIGURES 4 and 5, the circular fastener strip 42 can be formed from a straight strip 28 through the provision of slits 58 provided in one edge of the body 30, and bending the body to circular form in a direction away from the slits 58 so as to spread the slits 58. Or the circular fastener strip 42 can be originally formed circular.

In securing the closure disc 18 to the inward side of the sidewall flange 20, the circular strip prongs 54 and 56 are forced, from the outward side of the flange 20, so that the outer prongs penetrate the flange 20 and the closure disc 18, and the inner prongs 56 penetrate only 3 the disc 18, as shown in FIGURES 6 and 7, and the points of the prongs are bent adjacent the inward sides of the flange 20 and the disc 18. In this arrangement of the circular fastener strip 42, the body 30 bridges the inner edge of the flange 20 and the disc 18 so as to eliminate a catching edgethereat, as seen in FIGURE 6.

The cover 12 is made only larger enough in diameter than the drum 14 that a close sliding frictional retaining fit of the cover on the drum is obtained. In the case of the drum 14 containing solidified material at the time the material is to be availed of or used, removal of the cover 12 exposes only the top of the material in the drum, and inefficient, troublesome, and sometimes undesired destruction of the drum 14 is required, in the cases of conventional drums, to more fully expose the solid material. However, in the case of the present invention, such exposure can be done quickly, easily, cleanly, and without undue injury to the drum or its contents, simply by gripping the sidewall fastening strip 28, by means of such as a pair of pliers, and peeling or Zippering the strip 28 endwise off the sidewall 16, so that sidewall end portions come apart and expose the material for easy access or removal from the drum 14.

From the foregoing it will be apparent to those familiar with the art, that the components of the cover 12 and the drum 14 can be assembled and secured by fastener strips 28 and 42, in simple, easy, and quick operations, by means of simple and inexpensive machines having either mechanically or pneumatically operated pressure members operating toward stationary stop surfaces and stationary inside mandrels, and that complicated and expensive forming and shaping members are not needed.

While there has been shown and described herein a preferred form of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structure of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A paper container comprising a drum, said drum being composed of initially flat sidewalls having free end portions and a closure disc which constitutes the drum bottom, said sidewalls having on one end thereof a continuous flange therearound adapted to be bent inwardly, the closure disc being engaged with the inward side of the flange, a continuous flat circular metal fastener strip engaged with the outward side of the flange parallel to the plane of said flange and said disc and having prongs penetrating the flange and the disc and clinched on the inward side thereof, said end portions of the sidewall being overlapped, and a fastener means between said overlapped portions thereof, said flange being flexible and pliable and being under compression between the related closure disc and the related circular fastener strip.

2. A paper container comprising a drum having a side wall having a lateral annular continuous internal flange on one end thereof, a cover disc extending across said one end and having a peripheral edge portion engaged with a side of said flange, and a continuous flat circular metal strip extending around and parallel to the plane of 7 said flange and said disc, said strip having prongs extending through the flange and the disc.

3. A paper container comprising a drum having a side wall having a lateral annular continuous internal flange on one end thereof, a cover disc extending across said one end and having a peripheral edge portion engaged with a side of said flange, and a continuous flat circular metal strip extending around and parallel to the plane of said flange and said disc, said strip having prongs extending through the flange and the disc, said strip body portion having outer and inner edges having circumferentially spaced projecting first and second tabs thereon severally having first and second concentric rows of prongs.

4. A container formed of a flexible and pliable sheet material comprising: cylindrical side walls formed of one rectangular sheet of said material with two of its opposite edges overlapping each other, means for joining the overlapped portions of said edges together, an inwardly orimped continuous flange around an open end of said cylindrical side walls, a disc closure for said open end of said cylindrical side walls having its edge engaging the inside of said flange, and a continuous flat metal strip means around the outside of said flange parallel to the plane of said flange and said disc and having a plurality of laterally projecting prongs pressed through said flange and said edge of said disc and clinched on the inside of said container and disc to form a leakproof closure for said end of said cylindrical side Walls.

5. A container according to claim 4 wherein said metal strip means comprises an elongated sheet metal body having first and second side edges and ends, longitudinally spaced tabs on each of said edges, said tabs being formed to provide central openings therein with said prongs extending laterally from the body and spaced circumferentially around the edges of said openings, said tabs being in opposed pairs crosswise of said body of said strip means.

6. A container according to claim 4 wherein said means for joining said overlapping portions of said edges comprises a plurality of metal prongs projecting through both of said overlapping edges and clinched on the inside of said container for holding said overlapping edges together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 431,068 Lowenthal July 1, 1890 676,747 Grim June 18, 1901 1,000,600 Hodge Aug. 15, 1911 2,109,601 Walter Marjl, 1938 2,159,355 Goetze May 23, 1939 2,206,918 Powell July 9, 1940 2,243,231 Van Saun May 27, 1941 2,389,547 Ringler Nov. 20, 1945 2,794,587 June June 4, 1957 

